This mornign, we set off from our campsite for Matamata, otherwise known as Hobbiton from the LOTR and upcoming Hobbit films! We arrived at about 11:30 and booked our selves onto the next tour ($66 each!!) leaving from The Shires Rest cafe, which is on the sheep farm owned by the Alexander brothers, where the set is based. Dave was very excited as it approached tour time!

We got onto the bus and our guide drove us the short distance over the hill to where the set was being constructed. We'd already been warned when we bought our tickets that we were not allowed to tell anybody about what we saw on set and had to sign a confidentiality agreement agreeing not to post our photos of the set online until the films have both been released in a couple of years - otherwise, we'll be sued! Our guide gave us another warning at the entrance of the village set, telling us to keep together and not go off on our own - then we were in!

We walked toward the first few hobbit holes, which are all facades built into the hillsides using army diggers - they only go back a few metres, and all interior shots are filmed in Wellington. We saw the path that Gandalf took when riding into Hobbiton in the first film, and the tree where he set his fireworks off from. We walked around the lower part of the village, past lots of hobbit holes which had parts of their fronts covered with sheeting to protect the plants in the front gardens from the NZ winter. We eventually made it around to the party tree and the party field from the first film, and took lots more photos. The guide told us about a groub of foreign visitors who ran over lots of nearby hobbit holes at this point of the tour, and the filmmakers gave the tour company an official warning! From the tree, we could see over the lake to where the Green Dragon and the watermill were still being finished and the 'stone' bridge leading to them that's made out of wood!

We then climbed the hill towards Bag End, home of Frodo and Bilbo and took yet more photos. The guide told us that the scene outside Bag End where Frodo and Gandalf are watching the sunset, was actually filmed at sunrise so that the sun was visable and not on the other side of the hill. He also told us that they spent $250 million on each of the hobbit films, which is double what they spent on each LOTR film - might they be in 3D? We then came back down the hill, and to the end of the tour - we were very lucky to see a film set before the filming has actually happened, and it won't be long before the tours are shut down when filming starts. Definately worth it if you're a LOTR fan, and Laura enjoyed it, so maybe even if you're not! At the end of the tour we were given a sheep shearing demonstration in the Wool Shed (see photo). Laura was even lucky enough to feed and hold a week old baby lamb!

We then drove back to Rotorua and found a Top 10 campsite at a place called Blue Lake, South East of town. While we were cooking dinner, two groups of teenagers descended - one were a boys hockey team and one were a mostly girl group on a school residential. We sat with the teachers from that group while we ate, and it was interesting to hear the differences compared to our schools - they do PE every day! The woman also gave us her school address so she could send us a flag signed by two of the All Blacks! A memorable day...